U.K. flag tops Paris MOU “White List”

U.K. flag tops Paris MOU “White List”

U.K. flag tops Paris MOU “White List”

The British “Red Ensign” flag has been awarded 2006’s top ranking on the Paris MOU Committee “White List” of Flag States, which represents flags with a consistently low detention record.
   “This is tremendous news and contradicts the claims that in seeking to ‘grow the flag’ the U.K. Ship Register has lowered its standards and become a ‘flag of convenience.’ It is not, it has never been and it never will be,” said Peter Cardy, new chief executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, which administers the U.K. Ship Register.
   Sweden, Finland and China ranked just behind the U.K. The U.S. flag ranked 27th on the “White List.” New on the “White List” are Estonia, Switzerland and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Azerbaijan was the only flag to move down from the “White List” to the “Grey List.”
   Most of the flags that were considered “very high risk” in 2005 remained on the “Black List” in 2006 with the poorest performing flags still being the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Albania and Bolivia. Belize and Morocco moved back to the “Black List” from the “Grey List.” Taiwan, Turkey, Algeria and the Ukraine moved from the “Black List” to the “Grey List.”